Women who suffer spousal abuse more likely to develop depression, mental illness: study

A study of more than a thousand mothers over a decade found that the women who suffered spousal abuse were twice as likely to develop depression and three times as likely to develop psychotic symptoms of mental illness as those where weren’t the victims of domestic violence.

The joint study the University of Montreal and King’s College in the United Kingdom found four in 10 women were victims of domestic violence in that time.

“In addition to the experience of physical injury, there is an increased risk for those women to experience mental illness,” Isabelle Ouellet-Morin, author of the study and a researcher at the Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Montréal, tells Yahoo Canada News.

The results are not surprising, says Ouellet-Morin.

But while there has long been evidence that domestic violence increases the risk of depression and mental illness in women, she says this study pinpoints that link.

The team has been tracking the mothers of twins in the United Kingdom for more than 15 years now for a variety of research. This particular study followed mothers with no previous history of depression and interviewed the women multiple times over 10 years.

The study takes into account a variety of factors, including substance abuse, previous history of depression, socio-economic situation and childhood experiences.

“Over and above all the potential confounders, we’re still able to pinpoint a very definite negative impact of those experiences in a woman’s life, in particular in depression and psychotic symptoms,” she says.

Ouellet-Morin and her colleagues found that the women who suffered domestic violence had a more extensive history of childhood abuse and abuse of illicit substances.

They more often experienced economic poverty, early pregnancy and antisocial behaviour.

Of the women who experienced spousal violence, those who were also victims of childhood abuse were twice as likely as those who didn’t to develop psychotic symptoms that included hearing voices, visual hallucinations, feelings of persecution, paranoia and fear that their minds were being manipulated.

“These robust and long-lasting effects emphasize that it is important for mental health professionals to investigate past and current experiences of abuse in women reporting poor mental health…,” says the paper.

Over the course of the study, half of the women who reported partner violence during the first interview were also in an abusive relationship 5 years later.

Ouellet-Morin says she expects results would be similar for women in Canada, as reported rates of domestic violence and mental illness are comparable.

"Health professionals need to be very aware of the possibility that women who experience mental health problems may also be the victims of domestic violence and vice versa,” co-author Louise Arseneault, a researcher at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at King’s College London, says in a statement.

“These acts of violence do more than leave physical damage; they leave psychological scars as well.”